Jazz and Democracy? Jazz musician Victor Goines '84, links the two

The idea may be big, but the music is universal. Officials want to embrace creative arts like jazz education, for example, as one way to restore civility in public life. Victor Goines ’84, world-renowned clarinetist, saxophonist, educator and one of the most respected musicians in jazz today, will speak to that in an Oct. 21 lecture at Loyola University New Orleans. The 3 p.m. event in the Nunemaker Auditorium of Monroe Hall is free and open to the public.

The lecture, presented by the College of Social Sciences, will address ways in which jazz and the arts can be integrated into the educational process to transform curricula in music/art education. The idea is to go beyond teaching to standardized tests to improve the overall well-being of the students—and even perhaps combat crime and other threats to our society, according to College of Social Sciences Dean Luis Mirón, Ph.D.

“Our democratic society is in peril. Civility is largely absent in public discourse, and violent crime at the hands of murderous weapons threatens to unravel life in our great cities,” Mirón said. “Public schools are losing their mission to provide a common education that lifts all sectors. Though immediate solutions are difficult to arrive upon, a long-term strategy to restore a sense of shared values in pursuit of the common good is possible.”

In addition to the lecture, Goines will advise the organizers of “Back to Democracy in Arts and Music Education,” a symposium and teacher-training session at the New Orleans Museum of Art in collaboration with the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. The event will feature local and international artists who can both inspire educators to embrace jazz and the creative arts as well as transform their pedagogy in hopes of restoring civility in public life.

“Ultimately, we hope that classroom teachers can motivate potential music students and potential jazz artists in particular to see art as a way of life, thus providing alternatives to a bleak economic future,” Mirón said.